


The One With the Bad Date

by thestanceyg



Series: April Challenge Redux [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 04:09:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14300478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestanceyg/pseuds/thestanceyg
Summary: Holiday: Grilled Cheese DaySelf selected prompt:#247A is grabbing a quick lunch before they have to go back to work when they notice what looks like a badly matched date. B is in the midst of snapping a photo of their meal when their date sighs dramatically – “You’re one of those people!” – and storms out of the restaurant. A gives them a kind smile and says, “Don’t worry, I take a photo of every crème brûlée I eat.”





	The One With the Bad Date

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShinpeiHolic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinpeiHolic/gifts).



Darcy hated being set-up on dates. She wasn’t sure, though, if it was worse than being single. Right this moment though, yeah, she was thinking being single would probably be a million times better than this most recent disaster. They had agreed to meet up at a small family owned place not far from her apartment to grab an early dinner; aplace she actually happened to like a lot. She often came there by herself because the food was amazing (as were all the employees).

She was annoyed to get the “I’m running a bit late” text five minutes after he should have arrived, but things happen and she really didn’t want to hold his possibly unavoidable tardiness against him. Maybe there had been an accident that was slowing the subway or maybe the traffic had been extra heavy. There were lots of things that could have caused this problem. So she breathed in and then out before replying. **Cool. No worries. Keep me posted.**

And, not that she was expecting minute by minute updates, but when ten minutes had gone by without an update she had sent another text.

**Just checking to make sure you’re still on your way.**

The reply came quickly. **I told you I was running late. What more do you want?**

Yeah….that was a bit not good. She tried to reason it out. Being late makes some people (extra) grouchy. Maybe that was it.

Another ten minutes had gone by, and he was now creeping toward half an hour late.

 **We can reschedule if you want**. She sent, wondering if this was him trying to brush her off.

**I said I was going to be late.**

Well, yeah, he had. Honestly, she had thought he would be ten minutes late max. Thirty was really a bit long in her opinion.

“Still waiting?” Joelle asked.

“Yeah, but I think I might go ahead and order,” Darcy said as her stomach grumbled. “I ended up missing lunch today.”

Jo gave her a soft smile. “Sure thing. Whatcha want? The special?”

“Yes please,” Darcy said. “And another ice tea when you have a chance.”

Jo bustled away and Darcy played with her phone. She wasn’t sure if she should bother trying to text him again. Probably not. She already had decided this date was going to end early. Maybe she could eat before he even got there and just leave. Sure it would be kind of rude, but so was his tardiness.

Ten minutes later, Jo came out with the  grilled cheese  special. It was made with bacon, brie, and apricot and looked divine.  She pulled out her phone to take a picture.

“Ugh,” she heard next to her, “you’re one of _those_ people.”

“Excuse me?” she said, turning to face the man she assumed was her date. He looked like the picture Yvonne had shown her and was looking at her expectantly.

“Ellis?” she asked.

“I can’t believe you ordered without me,” he said, his voice a touch accusatory.

“Well _I_ can’t believe you’re nearly an hour late.”

“It couldn’t be helped.”

“Neither could my ordering.”

He looked her up and down in a way that made her skin crawl. “You’re hot, so I was going to let all this slide,” he said waving his hand in the air, “but you’re kind of bitchy, and I don’t have time for that.”

“Fine by me,” Darcy said dismissively, sliding back into her chair.

He looked at her, made a scoffing sound, and then left.

Darcy let out a long sigh and dropped her head into her hands.

“Apropos of nothing,” the man at the table next to her said, “but I take pictures of every ice cream cone I eat.”

She turned to really look at the man. He was wearing a slightly wrinkled purple button down, and had fluffy hair and glasses. He was probably a solid ten to fifteen years older than her, but he was definitely a fox.

“Every ice cream cone, huh?”

“Yeah. It reminds me of the best parts of childhood.”

“That, my friend, is an excellent reason to take a picture of food. I’m Darcy, by the way.”

He blushed. “I kind of already know. I’m Bruce. I work with Jane.”

“ _You’re_ Bruce?” she asked, surprised. Jane had been trying to set them up for weeks, but kept refusing to tell her anything about him other than they worked together. She wouldn’t even send her a picture.

_“But Jane,” she whined,”I’m getting the distinct impression you’re trying to foist some poor unfortunate soul on me when you refuse to give me details. Like seriously, does he have tentacles? Because I could be into that if I just knew about them beforehand.”_

_“Oh my god Darcy,” she said throwing a pillow at her friend, “you clearly have read entirely too much erotica.”_

_“There’s no such thing as too much,” she sniffed. “But seriously, why won’t you dish about this guy you think is perfect for me?”_

_“Because I can’t describe him in a way that will make sense. You just need to meet him, okay?”_

Looking at Bruce, that conversation suddenly made sense. She was instantly drawn to him, but for the life of her she couldn’t think of a way to describe him that wouldn’t just make him sound like an incredibly average older man.

“Is that a bad thing?” he asked, pulling her out of her memories.

“Did you come here tonight because Jane told you I’d be here?”

“Of course not,” he said. “I just come here at least once a week. Sofia makes the best risotto.”

Darcy grabbed her plate and slid into the chair opposite him. “Let’s start over. Hi, my name’s Darcy. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

He gave a soft smile. “I’m Bruce, and the pleasure is all mine.”

“How about we share it?”

His smile promised that they just might share the pleasure later, and she would enjoy every second of it.


End file.
